Gryphon's Word of the Day, December 31, 2007

The word of the day for December 31, 2007 is “anniversary” — noun/ 1: the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event; broadly : a date that follows such an event by a specified period of time measured in units other than years <the 6-month anniversary of the accident>. 2: the celebration of an anniversary.

 

Happy New Year’s Eve. Yes, it’s that time of year again. I awoke this morning facing (as Sybil said) “the man with as many noses as the year,” my own dear husband of 41 years now.

 

We met at the Des Moines, Iowa, bus station where I was sending my roommate to Omaha, Nebraska, for Christmas at home. Lloyd was there to make a phone call (no cell phones in those days) He recognized my roommate as an acquaintance and came over to say hello. All three of us went to Omaha that night, and he proposed to me as he took me back to Des Moines (I had to work the next day.) We were married barely two weeks later.

 

The quote for the day is from Ambrose Bierce, (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary:

 

OCCASIONAL, adj. Afflicting us with greater or less frequency. That, however, is not the sense in which the word is used in the phrase "occasional verses," which are verses written for an "occasion," such as an anniversary, a celebration or other event. True, they afflict us a little worse than other sorts of verse, but their name has no reference to irregular recurrence.

 

:^)  Jan the Gryphon

Tags: anniversary, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

Gryphon's Word of the Day, September 30, 2007

The word of the day for December 30, 2007 is “squirrel” — Function: noun / 1: any of various small or medium-sized rodents (family Sciuridae, the squirrel family): as a: any of numerous New or Old World arboreal forms having a long bushy tail and strong hind legs. b: ground squirrel. 2: the fur of a squirrel.

 

Lloyd has gone back to sleep while I go off to church. I put “pee-papers” down in the hallway and a gate across the end of the hall. Hopefully, the puppy will get the idea while I’m gone. If not, I may have to train him to clean up his own mess. It’s too cold to leave him outside for morethan ten or fifteen minutes. Still, he likes to sit by the patio doorand watch for the squirrel that comes over into our back-yard elm.

 

The squirrel has a nest in our maple in the front. During the last storm (before we got Bubbles) the squirrel came down the trunk slowly, head first. About two feet or half a meter from the ground, he stretched out his front paws and felt around in the wind and driving snow. His little eyes were squinched shut, so I think he was feeling for the ground. He put his paws back on the tree and moved down a few inches and tried again. Next time he was able to jump down the last few inches and wend his way to the street and across to the neighbor’s walnut tree through the drifts. Such an effort for the poor thing.

 

I wish I could have gotten the camera out quickly enough to take a photo. The squirrel above is a friend of Lloyd's who lives in one of the local parks.

 

The quote for the day is from Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. “Art,” Essays, First Series (1841, repr. 1847):

 

A squirrel leaping from bough to bough, and making the wood but one wide tree for his pleasure, fills the eye not less than a lion,—is beautiful, self-sufficing, and stands then and there for nature.

 

:^)  Jan the Gryphon

Tags: squirrel, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

The word of the day for December 29, 2007 is “exposure” — noun: 1: the fact or condition of being exposed: as a: the condition of being presented to view or made known <a politician seeks a lot of exposure>. b: the condition of being unprotected especially from severe weather <died of exposure>. c: the condition of being subject to some effect or influence <risk exposure to the flu>. d: the condition of being at risk of financial loss <minimizes your exposure to market fluctuations>; also : an amount at risk. 2: the act or an instance of exposing: as a: disclosure of something secret <tried to prevent exposure of their past>. b: the treating of sensitized material (as film) to controlled amounts of radiant energy; also : the amount of such energy or length of such treatment <a 3-second exposure>. 3 a: the manner of being exposed. b: the position (as of a house) with respect to weather influences or compass points <a room with a southern exposure>. 4: a piece or section of sensitized material (as film) on which an exposure is or can be made <36 exposures per roll>

 

The puppy and I took a walk this morning. It was 20 F and still dark out at 7:30, so I grabbed a flashlight, slid into some old walkers and my coat, tacked up the dog and off we went. The neighborhood was so quiet: no one heading off for work very few house lights. A couple of places had their Christmas displays on timers still lit.

 

A rabbit ran out from between two houses. Bubbles woofed quietly, more like a sneeze than anything and strained on the lead. However, as the bunny showed no inclination to come play, he gave up after a few moments. This is quite a change from last night, when the neighbor’s dog appeared in their foyer behind the storm door. Bubbles “went for bad” as my husband would say. The two of them had quite a conversation that probably meant nothing more than: “Come on out and play. We’ll see who’s top dog.” and “This is my house and you’re not invited”

 

The quote for the day is from Samuel Butler (1835–1902), British author. First published in 1912. Samuel Butler’s Notebooks, p. 136, E.P. Dutton & Company (1951):

 

Some men love truth so much that they seem in continual fear lest she should catch cold on over-exposure.

 

:^)  Jan the Gryphon

Tags: exposure, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

Gryphon's Word of the Day, December 28, 2007

The word of the day for December 28, 2007 is “canine” — noun: a conical pointed tooth; especially : one situated between the lateral incisor and the first premolar — see tooth illustration2: dog 1a; broadly : canid.

 

I went to the Kansas Humane Society to get a dog for my husband. I’m fairly convinced that this means I’ll get to do all the cleanup and most of the letting in and out, at least while I’m on vacation. The new puppy is now named “Bubbles” after my brother-in-law’s baby name.

 

Bubbles is part Jack Russell terrier and part Chihuahua and all love. He is just four months old, so is just ready for house training. They now have pans for “toilet” training dogs as well as cats. It might save us a few arguments about where the proper place to go is. More on that later. I’m off to the vet’s for an introductory visit.

 

The quote for the day is from GEORGE GRAHAM VEST, “Eulogy on the Dog,” speech during lawsuit, 1870.—Congressional Record, October 16, 1914, vol. 51, Appendix, pp. 1235–36:

 

Gentlemen of the jury, the best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter whom he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us—those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name—may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolute, unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world—the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous—is his dog.

 

:^)  Jan the Gryphon

Tags: canine, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

Gryphon's Word of the Day, December 25, 2007

The word of the day for December 25, 2007 is “abundance” — noun  1 : an ample quantity : profusion. 2 : affluence, wealth. 3 : relative degree of plentifulness <low abundances of uranium and thorium — H. C. Urey>.

 

Yesterday, we had a lovely drive up and back to my sister’s. At my sister’s, we had a lovely potato soup for lunch with fork salad. (Apparently, a fork fell into the gelatin during the making and remained undiscovered until the salad was on the table. This occasioned a few jokes about fortune cakes with rings, etc. and starters for stone soup.) We also exchanged gifts. My sister gave everyone calendars. That’s usually our job, but this year we gave music boxes that play Christmas carols.

 

It was so nice to get what I wanted for Christmas. The new computer probably was not necessary, but the old one isn’t talking to the internet and it refuses to do a search. The new one is totally mobile so I’m writing this while watching As Time Goes By, the series which was Lloyd’s present from me. He is a great fan of Dame Judy Dench, whom he likens to me. (What a sweetheart.)

 

The quote of the day is from Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), British comic actor, filmmaker. Charles Chaplin. Jewish barber (Charles Chaplin), The Great Dictator, posing as Hynkel (1940):

 

Machinery that gives us abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent, and all will be lost.

 

o<||;^)  Jan

 

Yesterday, I forgot the digital and had to get a one-shot, so we’ll have to wait until I get them developed. The photos above are from this morning.

Tags: abundance, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

Gryphon's Word of the Day, December 23, 2007

The word of the day for December 23, 2007 is “snow’ — noun 1 a: precipitation in the form of small white ice crystals formed directly from the water vapor of the air at a temperature of less than 32°F (0°C). b (1): a descent or shower of snow crystals. (2): a mass of fallen snow crystals. 2: something resembling snow: as a: a dessert made of stiffly beaten whites of eggs, sugar, and fruit pulp <apple snow>. b: a usually white crystalline substance that condenses from a fluid phase as snow does <ammonia snow>. C slang (1): cocaine. (2): heroin. d: small transient light or dark spots on a television screen.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

It looks likely that we will have a white Christmas this year. Given that the city of Wichita believes in solar snow removal for all but the most “important” roads in the city, only temperatures above freezing for all next week will rid us of the four inches (drifting to three to four feet) laid down yesterday.

 

I don’t mind much as we have ten days off from work. Plus, the snow came down wet, meaning that instead of shoveling, I will build a snowman and make snow angels in the yard. Pretending to be a child at Christmastide is more fun than work any day.

 

The quote for the day is from John Ashbery (b. 1927), U.S. poet, critic. “Punishing the Myth.”:

 

Like snow having second thoughts and coming back
To be wary about this, to embellish that, as though life were a party
At which work got done.

 

;^) Jan

Tags: snow, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

Gryphon's Word of the Day, December 22, 2007

The word of the day for December 22, 2007 is "anticipation" - noun 1 a: a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action b: the act of looking forward; especially : pleasurable expectation, 2: the use of money before it is available. 3 a: visualization of a future event or state b: an object or form that anticipates a later type.4: the early sounding of one or more tones of a succeeding chord to form a temporary dissonance — compare suspension.

 

I've decided not to make any plans anymore. Instead I'm going to keep asking everyone else what they are planning until they decide what they want to do. That way I won't be disappointed when my plans fall through.

 

It's a good thing that I had not planned to do anything away from the house today. The weather was so bad that they closed the Kansas Turnpike toll booths because of accidents and kept them closed the rest of the day. Hopefully, the KTA people will get the toll booths and roadway cleared before Monday. I'm not the only one who would like to visit with family on Christmas Eve Day.

 

The quote for the day is from Norman Cousins in Saturday Review 15 Apr 78: Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.

 

Tags: anticipation, humor, word of the day, quote for the day

Gryphon's Word of the Day, December 12, 2007

The word of the day for December 12, 2007 is “illumination” — noun 1: the action of illuminating or state of being illuminated: as a: spiritual or intellectual enlightenment b (1): a lighting up (2): decorative lighting or lighting effects c: decoration by the art of illuminating2: the luminous flux per unit area on an intercepting surface at any given point3: one of the decorative features used in the art of illuminating or in decorative lighting.

 

There must be something in the human genome that recognizes a need for light. When the days get shorter, we build bonfires and string lights on trees, bushes and buildings. We invite others to share our light and warmth. We go out of our way to observe the display of lights put up by others.

 

This is the season for recognizing the light of love and hope and of passing it on to others. So to all of you I wish a Merry Christmas, Good Eid el-Fitr, Happy Divvali, Happy Hannukah, Good Yule or a Joyous Celebration of whatever holiday of lights you celebrate.

 

The quote for the day is from Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894)

 

There are one-story intellects, two-story intellects, and three-story intellects with skylights. All fact collectors with no aim beyond their facts are one-story men. Two-story men compare reason and generalize, using labors of the fact collectors as well as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine, and predict. Their best illuminations come from above through the skylight.

 

O<||;^)

 

Tags: illumination, humor, word of the day, quote for the day